Welcome to my second Ludum Dare Jam entry "That Blue Square", It's a very simple 13 level (12 with end zone level) game inspired by "Thomas Was Alone". The shapeshifting element comes in with the fact that the player switched the shape that is used at will either a square or a rectangle. Square can move and jump and fall, Rectangle can move but can't jump and due to his width glides down slower when he falls.
#35 has been a struggle this time due to not really being enthusiastic about the theme however, I still came up with an idea (albeit I wasn't keen on the idea) but, followed through with the development of the game until I had something to submit. My main goal was to have an idea and get it submitted unfortunately due to my own distractions etc etc this one isn't a good as my previous however, I will learn a lesson from it and eagerly await #36.
Good game! Apart from one or two things, I felt like the difficulty was the right level, and I enjoyed solving the puzzles. The "floating" mechanic made me feel smart, which is always a good way to entertain your player.
I found that some of the pits required me to make "leaps of faith" into spikes, which kind of went against the spirit of the game. That was a bit frustrating. Some sort of "level complete" effect would be cool tool.
Swapping ability was very satisfying to master, at first I found myself transforming instead of jumping, but after a while it was fun to speed run levels as fast as I could. Graphics were simple but stylistically coherent which was good.
Brilliant. Such a simple mechanic and so well executed. Even the simple graphic style plays into the whole aesthetic. Most of all though the motion is what makes it work; it has just the right feel as you move the shapes.
I'm glad I didn't read your comment before playing. I think it's a very good entry. I liked the mechanics, levels and graphics. Don's see any weak point. Great job!
Thanks for the kind words guys, its wierd because even after this time has passed since LD35 I've actually become to like the idea of the game I made and I'm already dabbling in some major changes to how the blocks work and extra "mutations" that the blocks can have for example a triangle that jumps higher than square but moves slower. I'm also looking at either rewriting in unity or unreal as I', liking the idea of the crisper sharper vectors than rasters. As for the music I tried to have a dabble for ambience etc but I couldn't sit with a specific style maybe I'll have to dabble a bit more and just play stuff while I test the game and see what fits the best. SFX for sprites etc will be in that version my microphones were playing up so couldn't get clear recordings. Those that saw my LD34 entry may remember that I voiced the spacecraft guns and engines myself and I was looking to do the same with this one.
I liked it, it is simple, yet packs a lot of variation into the mechanics. I liked the level design also. I don't know whether this is just me, but the "shapeshift into square" key, which advertised itself as being 'X', was actually the 'Z' key, so I was a little confused at first, but I figured it out eventually. Also, I think that the game could have benefited with a little contrast between the black background and some of the level entities (spikes and flag). Nice work!
I love the graphics! Very Thomas Was Alone. The liquids especially, do more of those.
The puzzles were a bit repetitive - a lot of levels had challenges that I'd already seen and didn't add anything new to shake them up. Becoming a square to jump over a pit and becoming a rectangle to slide into a narrow gap became boring after a while.
I found that some of the pits required me to make "leaps of faith" into spikes, which kind of went against the spirit of the game. That was a bit frustrating. Some sort of "level complete" effect would be cool tool.
Otherwise, a nice submission! Good work!